Undead 101
by Edward the spiderqueen
Summary: AU, Can't say too much without giving it away. Yugi, Ryou, Malik, and Joey have to save the world with the help of their vampire mates, now if they can figure out how... rated for yaoi, swearing, and violence. formerly losing my emotions
1. something strange in town

Warnings: swearing, yaoi, boy/boy relationships, a little violence

I don't own it, mmmkay?

A/N: this is so gonna mess up me updating my other story but I just had to write it! okay, on with it. Oh wait, this is dedicate to my girlfriend and morgen 'cause she's sitting right next to me and I feel like being a suck up. okay,now on with it.

Yugi stared at the clock in the front of the classroom. Only 59 seconds to go until they were free…30…10, 5 and-

Ring!

The spiky haired teen cheered along with the rest of the class, summer vacation! He rushed outside to wait for the rest of his friends. Ryou was already there, the quiet teen was waiting under the branches of their usual tree.

Yugi waved and the albino, finally spotting him, waved back. The shorter one ran over quickly.

"Waiting for everyone else?" asked Yugi.

"Yeah, my father's on a dig, remember?" he replied. Yugi nodded, when Ryou's father was home he'd usually pick him up from school.

"For how long?" Yugi asked. Ryou sighed. "The whole summer."

"That sucks," said a new voice. They turned to see their friends, Joey and Tristan walking towards them. Ryou smiled sadly and changed the subject, "So what are you all doing for the summer?"

While he asked, they were joined by the last members of their group, Tea and Malik.

Everyone shrugged simultaneously and he sweat dropped.

"What was the question?" Malik asked.

"He wanted to know what we're all doing this summer," Tristan informed him.

"I'm going to dance class," Tea stated as they started walking.

"I'm gonna hang out and do nutin'! Joey exclaimed. Tristan nodded, agreeing with his blond friend.

"You guys wanna stop at my place?" Joey asked as the group neared his house.

"No thanks, Joey," Yugi declined politely.

"Not today," Ryou added for himself.

"Sure dude, coming Tea?" Tristan said. Tea nodded and they turned to their platinum haired friend, Malik for his answer.

"I'm grounded," he said, "Isis caught me feeding aspirin to birds." Everyone sweat dropped.

"Uhhh, okay, so we'll see you guys later!" said Tea.

"Call me!" called Tristan as he was about to disappear into Joey's house. The other waved their hands to show they got the message and continued down the street, next stop, Ryou's house.

The shortest member of the trio turned to the others, "So, you guys wanna do something tomorrow?"

"I can sneak out around noon, Isis won't be home unit late and Rishid won't tell on me," Malik said.

"Where are we meeting?" Ryou asked.

"Arcade!" said Yugi excitedly as they were nearing Maliks' house.

"Why the hell not?" said Malik exasperatedly. Ryou agreed to the plan also and they left Malik at his house.

"Want to hang out at my house for awhile Ryou," Yugi offered when they were about a block away from his house.

"No thank you Yugi," Ryou declined.

"See you tomorrow then!" said the tri colored teen cheerfully.

"Yeah," Ryou whispered under his breath. He watched until Yugi had disappeared inside, and then turned towards his own home.

"Oh my god! Joey, look on the news!"

"We're playing game cube Serenity! Can't it wait?"

"Just do it stupid," Tea said, "you guys have been at this for, like, two hours already."

Grumbling, Joey turned off the gaming device and turned to the news. What they saw made their eyes widen.

"-occurred near the downtown area just a few blocks from our local high school. The bodies were literally ripped to shreds yet completely drained of their blood. Investigators are unsure who or what may have caused the attacks but urge citizens living in the immediate area to be cautious going out alone."

A hand reached out and turned the small television off. Blood red eyes blazed angrily under tri colored, spiky hair.

"Damnit, Bakura, Marik!" he yelled as he stood up from a beat up couch.

"You rang?" came a sarcastic voice from behind the figure. He turned to see behind him a man with long white hair and skin and dark brown eyes.

"Where's Marik?"

"With Kiaba, they're out hunting."

"Okay, so long as you're here, WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING!"

The person known as Bakura smirked at the shorter figure before him. "We were bored; you should have come with us, Yami."

"You were bored," stated Yami flatly. Bakura nodded like it was obvious. "Do you remember what we're here for exactly? Bakura stopped smirking and frowned.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"And do you remember what Kiaba and I talked to you and Marik about before we came here?"

"Kiaba was in on it too!"

"Oh my Ra."

"Kiaba was in on what?" came a new voice. The two turned to see another two arrivals come through the doorway into the darkened room. They were about the same height but that's where the similarities ended. The one who had spoken had a calm look about him with his straight brown hair and sharp blue eyes. The other had wild, white-blond hair and dark purple eyes that made you think if you left him by himself for too long he would start a fire or something.

"You helped massacre those innocent people!" Yami addressed the brunette.

"Innocent my ass! It was a jock and his cronies and they picked a fight with us!" the blond one broke in before Kiaba could answer.

"That's no excuse; we're just supposed to do what we were told and get the hell out. No more stunts like this, got it?" Yami said.

He took their silence as a yes and dropped it.

"So when are we leaving to find them?" Kiaba asked.

Yami sighed and ran a hand through his spiky hair in evident frustration.

"Do you all know where yours are?"

"Duh."

"Yes."

"Yeah, we know."

Yami nodded, "Then tonight then." The others smiled in anticipation, each showing a pair of wicked looking fangs.


	2. one heck of a hickey

Warning: uh, well, yaoi wait that's later…um, Oh swearing! And maybe some violence but really not all that bad. Shower scene! Nothing too graphic, just thought I'd give ya a head's up.

Disclaimer: yeah, yeah, I don't own it, yada yada.

A/N: SO SORRY FOR THE FOR-FRICKIN'- EVER-LONG UPDATE! I couldn't find the notebook I wrote this all down in. Silly me, I left it at church. Now I can update my other story so don't yell at me morgue! Okay, I'm done, ya'll can read now.

"Owww," moaned a newly awake Yugi. Gingerly, he felt the side of his neck, the source of a throbbing pain.

'Must have pulled a muscle in my sleep,' he thought to himself. Slowly, not fully awake yet, he climbed out of bed and grabbed his stuff to take a shower, then headed down the hall to the bathroom.

The pain in his neck persisted as he stripped out of his pj's and climbed into the shower. Hot, steamy water ran in rivets down his slim frame then swirled into the drain below taking soap suds with it.

The bathroom felt like a sauna when he was finally done but Yugi didn't really care. He stepped out of the warm water reluctantly and wrapped a towel around his waist before wiping off the foggy mirror so he could brush his hair. The throbbing in his neck had dulled but he still wanted to take a look at it. His eyes widened at what he saw. On the side of his neck was what looked to be a bite mark.

"What the…?"

Elsewhere, Ryou was making a similar discovery. He also found a mark on the side of his neck, but he could remember how it got there.

Flash back

Ryou, first of all, was an extremely sleep deprived teenage boy. He usually went to bed around one and got up at six for school. So he was still awake at twelve-thirty when a dark figure climbed through his downstairs window. He was sitting in his room at his desk drawing when he heard the door to his room creak open. At first he didn't make anything of it and didn't bother turning around. Soon, however, he got up to close it. The air coming into his room was colder than he liked due to the fact his father insisted he keep the air conditioner on.

Ryou turned back around from once he'd made sure the door was secure. A man was inches away from his face.

'Huh, he looks exactly like me,' Ryou thought. (It hadn't really sunk in yet that someone he didn't know had snuck into his room unnoticed and was now invading his personal space, like, a lot.) But it was true. The face in front of his own was pale, like his, with long, spiky, white hair. Even the man's eyes, though a different shade, where brown.

It took another minute to set in exactly what was happening, then it hit him. The stranger must have read his mind because as soon as Ryou opened his mouth to scream he found a hand covering it.

"This may hurt," said the stranger and leaned his head over Ryou's neck. Before he could react, Ryou felt two pointed fangs sink into his tender flesh. The man was right, it did hurt but only at first. The pain seemed to numb after only a few seconds. For some reason Ryou didn't struggle, even though obviously this person was vampire and was drinking his blood. The thought didn't even occur to him.

Before long, Ryou felt himself getting drowsy. It was almost like he'd been drugged. Seconds later, he lost consciousness.

End Flash Back

The stranger had apparently placed him on the bed but hadn't done anything else, a fact that Ryou was immensely grateful for. What he wasn't grateful for was the painful throbbing in his neck. Gingerly, he lifted his head from the pillow and got up. He looked at the alarm clock curiously, it read 11:04.

'Great, I have to meet Yugi and Malik in a hour,' he thought as he changed out of his sleep wrinkled clothes. He then went into the bathroom. Looking in mirror he examined the newly acquired mark on his neck. Sighing, brushed his hair, hoping it would cover the bite. 'I wonder if this happens to other kids my age…'

While at Malik Istar's house….

"WHAT THE HELL!"

Yep, he found it too.

Even Joey got a surprise in the morning.

"Joey, what is that?"

"What is what?"

"Never mind…"

Or not.

Yugi was the first to get to the arcade as usual. Ryou and Malik found him beating some college student at a racing game. Like always, he got the highest score, almost beating his previous record.

"Are you done yet?" asked an exasperated Malik. Yugi giggled innocently and followed his friends outside.

Ryou noticed his friends were being awfully quiet which wasn't like them at all. (Especially Malik)

"Something wrong guys?" he asked. They were heading in the direction of the park and his friends hadn't spoken since they'd left the arcade.

"Well…" started Yugi, "I had a really weird experience this morning."

"Me too," Malik admitted, "I found this and it fucking hurts!" He removed his black choker from around his neck and pointed to a pair of small punctures on the side of it.

"Me too! And it does hurt like a bitch!" exclaimed Yugi. "Well it does," he defended once he saw their shocked faces at the use of the expletive. He also revealed a wound like Maliks on his neck hidden under his leather choker.

"Yes, well…" said Ryou moving his hair and revealing his identical mark, "only I remember how it got there."

"You do?" asked Yugi.

"Hey guys!" called a familiar voice. The boys turned just in time to see Joey slide to a stop before them.

"Whatcha guy's doin' here?" asked the blond. They didn't answer but were staring at the mark on their friends' neck. It was just like all of theirs'.

"Uh, Joey," started Yugi.

"What?"

"Did you find anything…unusual about yourself today?"

"What're ya talkin' about Yug?"

"Let me try," Malik said. He turned to Joey. "Are you or are you not aware of the fact that you have a mark on your neck that should be causing you discomfort and resembles a bite mark?"

"…uh, no?" Joey replied obviously confused.

"Here," said Malik. He pulled a rather large and wicked looking knife out of his back pocket and unsheathed it so Joey could see his reflection in the blade.

"Does Ishizu know you have-"Yugi started to say but was cut off by Joey.

"Holy shit! How did that get there?"

"We're not sure but Ryou knows how he got his," Malik said putting his sheathing his knife and slipping it into his pocket again.

"Let's go to the park first," Yugi suggested. "I know a spot that's really private, no one ever goes there." The others nodded and followed him.

They traveled the five blocks to the park in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Ryou was trying to decide whether or not the others would believe what he had to say. Yugi was debating telling Ishizu about Malik's knife. Malik was wondering when he could get more chemicals for his home made bombs and Joey really wasn't thinking about anything in particular. (He had just had a highly caffeinated soda and was resisting the urge to skip down the sidewalk)

"Okay, what's this all about?" Joey finally broke the silence once they were all at the semi secluded area in the park. Everyone looked at Ryou expectantly.

"You might want to get comfortable," Ryou said and sat down on the grass. Yugi and Joey plopped down near him and Malik leaned against a nearby tree. They all turned their attention to Ryou who sighed.

"Alright, here's what I remember…"

please tell me if you think the chapter went too fast, I have to work on that. thanks.


	3. crosses don't help

Warning: swearing? I think there's swearing…yaoi later (much later but not too much later) on.

A/N: the disclaimer was in chapter one and two, I think you got the point. Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait but I think I'll be picking things up from now on, I just got a crap load of ideas.

88888888

"This could be bad," said Yami.

"If he tells the others…" added Kaiba.

"Damnit, I don't see how this is so bad!" burst out Bakura. Kiaba and Yami turned and glared at him coldly but Marik jumped in to defend him.

"The boy won't tell, he probably thinks it was just a bad dream."

"What about the mark?" Kaiba asked pointedly. Bakura shrugged, "You know how mortals are, they have a 'perfectly good' explanation for everything."

"And if they can't explain something they ignore it," Marik added.

"You'd better hope that's the case," Yami stated darkly.

"We don't want them to find out too soon, if anything goes wrong it might drive them insane," said Kaiba. He looked at Marik meaningfully then turned away. "If you need me I'll be in my room, it's late."

Yami sighed and followed suite. "See you guys later," he said as he left. Bakura turned to Marik. "You don't think he'll tell do you?" he asked trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

"No, like I said, humans don't believe in things like us."

88888888

"So, do you believe me?" Ryou looked around at the shocked expressions on his friends faces and prepared himself for the worst. It was stupid, vampires didn't exist, there had to be another explanation they would insist.

Yugi was the first to speak.

"I believe you, Ryou."

"Me too," Joey agreed.

"Hey, I'm all about believing the unbelievable here," Malik put it. "Plus, what other explanation is there? It's not like we've got hickeys or something."

"So what the hell are we supposed to do?" Joey asked. Ryou considered for a moment.

"One thing we can't do is tell anyone, that includes parents, friends, and police," he said.

"Yeah, with our luck they'd put us in a loony bin," Yugi grinned.

"Hey! The appropriate term is an institution for the mentally ill and they're really not that bad," Malik defended. The others looked at him and he shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

"Not that I've been to one or anything," he added.

"Why don't we all sleep over together?" Ryou suggested. "Tonight can be my house and we can just alternate."

"That might work," Yugi said. Joey and Malik also agreed to the plan and they decided to hangout the rest of the day then head over Ryou's later.

They had a tough time convincing Isis to let Malik go, he was technically still grounded but Rishid stepped in and she relented but only after she'd confiscated his knife, lighter, firecrackers, and aspirin.

Yugi's grandfather didn't mind at all, he wouldn't even be home until late that night. He was driving to the next town to see his friends from his high school reunion. Joey's mom didn't mind either. They spent the rest of the day at the library looking up information on vampires and gather some supplied. Around 9:00 as it stared getting dark they finally headed over to Ryou's house.

"I can't believe you live here alone most of the time," Joey stated as they walked into Ryou's house.

"Doesn't it get lonely?" Yugi asked.

"Sometimes," Ryou answered as he led them upstairs to his room.

"So what do we do now?" Joey asked.

"I guess we just wait, what else can we do?" Ryou asked as they settled around Ryou's room.

"Well, we could try to keep them out couldn't we?" asked Yugi.

"Yeah! We could put crosses on all da windows and doors!" Joey suggested.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," said Malik, "let's do it."

They went to other parts of the house in search of anything even resembling a cross and found two necklaces and a pin.

"Well, why don't we just put them up in my room? It's enough for the windows and door right?" Ryou said. They all agreed and hung up the crosses.

"Let's hope this works guys," Joey said.

88888888

"Are we ready to go?" Yami asked. The assembled individuals known as Marik, Bakura, and Kaiba nodded in grim acknowledgment.

Without another word they were off, running through the night faster than the human eye could see. Before long they came to a nice house. Unlike the other houses on the block all the lights were out except for one on the second floor.

"Dear Ra, how stupid can you get?" Marik said to no one in particular. Instead of answering Yami walked up to the house. Without pausing he continued up the wall as if it were the sidewalk, the others followed silently behind them.

Bakura got to the window first and smiled as he crouched down to inspect it.

"Looks like they know we're coming, look at this," he pointed to the silver cross hanging on the inside of the window.

"You have got to be kidding me," Kaiba said. "What'd they do, look up vampire at the library?"

"Do you hear voices?" someone from inside asked.

"Other than the ones in your head?" another voice teased. The vampires on the other side of the window threw a glance at Marik who didn't really notice.

Suddenly the blind was raised and the boy that Marik had bitten looked out at them. They tensed waiting for the scream, the shock, the hysteria. Instead all they got was a cool glance.

"Hey guys, it's not in my head this time, we seem to have company." He turned to the undead waiting with stunned expressions on the other side of the window. The violet eyed blonde gave them a friendly grin.

"Hola chikos."

Marik couldn't stop himself. "Hola, usted hable Espanol?"

"Si, un poco."

"Who the hell are you talking t-" one of the other boys, another blonde stopped as soon as he caught sight of the faces leering outside the window.

"Guys!" he yelled.

Kaiba rolled his eyes, he got the stupid one…

With a sigh Yami opened the window and climbed into the room. "I think it's safe to assume they've found us out," he said glaring at Bakura.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," the albino stated sarcastically, "may we please get this over with?" Yami didn't pay him any attention, his gaze was focused on the shortest boy in the room. The boy had only to look into his eyes for a moment before he was completely immobilized and under the vampires' spell.

"What did you do to Yugi!" the white haired boy screamed. Yugi started to slump to the floor but with inhuman speed Yami was beside him and caught the boy in his arms.

"Don't you da-" whatever the albino human was going to say was cut off as Bakura placed his hand over his mouth from behind. Kaiba had used the same technique as Yami and put his boy under his spell. That left only the blond…

"I'd rather you didn't put me to sleep like that," he was telling Marik. Marik pretty much ignored him and caught the boy as he fell into his arms.

After the last boy was under a trance there was a blinding flash in the middle of the room. A woman who looked about twenty five was standing in the middle of the room. Her hair was raven dark and fell nearly to the middle of her back. The blue fire that was her eyes took in the scene before her as each of the vampires bowed.

"Rise," she commanded. She smiled at each of them. "I see you've found your mates," she noted.

The vampires didn't answer and she laughed flopping down on the bed. For some reason she made the position seem as dignified as if it were a throne. "Nervous?"

"If I may be so bold, is there a reason you're here Queen Nira?" Yami asked cautiously.

"No, this is a social visit," she said sarcastically. "Just so you know you have my permission to speak freely around me, I won't have you killed for anything you say." They seemed to debate the offer for a moment, finally Bakura spoke.

"What's this all about? Why do we have to mate these weak humans?"

"Because they are the key to saving all our races from extinction. And if you think they're just human you're sadly mistaken," she said, "they have powers you can't even imagine, we need them."

"Why?" Kaiba asked.

Nira's voice lowered as she said, "A doorway's been opened and He's trying to get out. Some of His minions are already here."

The vampire's eyes widened in shock.

"Shit," Marik whispered.

"What does that have to do with us?" Kaiba demanded.

"These boys," she motioned to the unconscious figures in their arms, " are the only ones who can help for some reason. I need you to unlock their powers."

"Why us?" Yami asked the question that was on their minds.

"Because they're you're the only ones who can."

88888888

Spanish conversation:

Hello boys.

Hello, you speak Spanish?

Yes, a little

Sorry, that was just fun to put in there! - Yes, I finally have an actual plot. Hehehe…


	4. an explanation sort of

OMG. An update! this is a long chapter, sortof. Long for me anyway...hope you enjoy.

* * *

"I thought you said they'd wake up in an hour or two."

"It's only been two and a half, big deal."

Yugi's head swam as he opened his eyes. He had to blink a few times for his vision to clear. He was looking at the ceiling wondering what had happened. A little disoriented, still pondering how he'd gotten on the floor he looked around Ryou's room. Five new people, four men and one woman, were in the room with him.

The woman was draped across Ryou's bed in way that managed to be both casual and regal. She was someone important you could tell. The men were like that too, reminding Yugi of cats the way they all seemed so graceful.

There should have been something wrong with this picture but for the life of him Yugi couldn't figure out what. Something in his mind kept telling him he should panic but he just didn't know why.

"Hey pharaoh, your brat's awake," said one of the men. He looked a lot like Ryou with white hair and pale skin. The shortest man turned from the book he was studying and looked directly at Yugi. The teen watched as he walked gracefully over and kneeled down in front of him looking into his eyes.

"Hey, you're a vampire right?" he asked. The man looked at him strangely and Yugi noticed that he looked like him, sort of. It was mostly the hair; the man's eyes were blood red.

"Yes, I'm Yami," he said. Yami turned to look at the woman in confusion.

"It's one of the symptoms of the bite, they're extremely calm for a while, enjoy it while you can," she said. Yami looked back to Yugi. "That'll make this easier to explain then." Yugi was about to ask what he was talking about when he heard a groan to his left.

Ryou opened his eyes and sat up studying the room in the same detached kind of way Yugi had.

"Hello Yugi," he said noticing his friend after a few minutes of gazing around blankly.

"Hey Ryou," Yugi greeted smiling.

Ryou looked around his room for another minute then turned back to Yugi with a look of confusion on his face.

"Um, Yugi?"

"Yeah Ryou?"

"Who are all these people and why are they in my house?"

Yugi giggled for seemingly no apparent reason and pointed to Yami.

"This one's Yami," he said. "I don't really know who the others are."

Throughout this exchange the vampires in the room had turned to their queen for reassurance as they'd never encountered this before. She nodded encouragingly at them holding back her laugher. Not a lot rattled the old vamps but when something did it was a funny sight indeed.

The two friends continued to chat amiably with each other while the vampires exchanged amused glances. After another fifteen minutes about, the other two woke up.

"Finally!" Marik broke out.

"When are they going to snap out of this?" Kiaba asked in a bored tone.

Joey looked at him for a minute. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" the teen asked. As if on cue the other boys seemed to come awake and realize where they were and, more importantly, who they were with.

"Yugi?"

"Yes Ryou?" Yugi said. Both boys were fighting to keep their voices normal.

"The crosses didn't work did they?"

"Nope," Bakura answered flashing his fangs.

Ryou's hands went to the side of his neck instinctively. "You're the one who bit me!" he accused. Bakura shrugged noncommittally.

"Am I supposed to apologize?" he asked Marik who shrugged.

"You could try it I guess."

"It'd be a lie though."

"Would you two please shut up?" the woman said. Surprising to the (human) teens they did so immediately and looked a little embarrassed.

"So are you boys going to explain to these poor boys or am I going to have to?" she asked the other vampires. No one answered and she sighed and sat up on the bed. Her long hair fell over her shoulder with the motion and she brushed it back before motioning the teens to come closer.

"I won't bite you," she said exasperated when they didn't comply. Slowly, Yugi rose and went to sit on the very edge of the bed as close as he dared to get to her. Reluctantly the others followed; Malik came last and sat on the floor with Joey.

"You guys can sit too," she said to the vampires. Marik and Bakura promptly fell to the floor in a graceful motion more like floating than actually falling. Malik and Ryou stared mesmerized until Joey coughed.

The vampire woman started;

"First off, introductions; these are my subjects; Yami, Seto who prefers Kaiba but I out rank him so I can get away with it, Marik, and Bakura." She nodded to each of the vampires as she said it. "And I'm Queen Nira; ruler of all the creatures of the night, a.k.a vampires." She winked at the boys. "And a more unruly bunch of creatures you will never find."

Yugi caught Yami rolling his eyes and hid a smile.

"Anyway, what does any of this have to do with you, right? Well, these four had a prophecy foretold about them when they were born by our most powerful seer. She said they had the power to save our species from destruction from…we don't speak His name; you might call Him the devil. Anyway, about half a century ago our seer said that they had to find their mates who had would appear when we needed them. So we waited, we're quite good at that actually. You learn to have a lot of patience after a few centuries. Finally, you guys were born. Then we waited some more for you to be old enough and grow into your powers which are actually very remarkable, I've never seen anything like the power you four wield. I sent these four to make you their mates. Any questions so far?"

Malik raised his hand. Nira quirked an eyebrow and he put his hand down mumbling something along the lines of sorry thought we were in school.

"Anyhoo, um what?"

"We don't have any powers…" Ryou said. The other boys nodded in agreement and the queen smiled. "You can't use it yet, you need to have it…awakened by something. In this case, becoming the mates to these four is the only thing that will awaken your powers because one, they're you destined mates, and two, they're the only vampires in the world powerful enough to do it.And once you're all mateyou can help us defeat the Evil One."

They boys all blinked at each other all thinking the same thing. 'This woman's crazy…'

"I prefer the term unique," she said indignantlywhile they all tried to remember if they'd said something out loud.

"Now, I have to go, but you," she spoke to the vampires, "have to stay with your mates until they recover and then you can give them the third bite." She spoke to the teens again, "If you have any more questions, just ask the idiots over there." Without another word, she was simply gone.

Joey was the first to break the awkward silence that had settled over the room.

"Am I the only one who thinks that woman is on crack?"

"She's...eccentric," Yami said ever the the diplomat.

"You think she's bad, you should have seen her mother," Marik muttered. Bakura shuddered and nodded.

"I don't know 'bout you guys, but I'm hungry," Joey said suddenly.

"You guys eat right?" Malik asked looking at Marik.

"Sure, no rules against it."

"We don't have to, we can survive without food." Bakura said.

Yugi was the first to stand and start towards the door. All of the sudden his stomach rebelled and his legs decided they weren't going any where at the moment. He closed his eyes when he saw the floor rushing up to meet him and braced himself for the impact.

"Yugi!" Ryou exclaimed.

The movement stopped and he felt strong arms around him. He opened his eyes and Yami shifted him as if he weighed nothing until he was leaning against the slightly taller man. Yami had his arm around his waist; all that was keeping him up was Yami's arm. Yugi, still feeling nauseous looked around the room and regretted it as his stomach churned again. Quickly he buried his face in Yami's shoulder without even thinking about it and tried to make the room stop spinning.

He could smell Yami's skin, sort of musky with a hint of cinnamon and something else that could only be Yami himself. The scent calmed his stomach and he lifted his head up to meet Yami's eyes. He blushed immediately and tried to pull away stammering an apology but Yami shushed him.

"Nira warned us about this, they can't do too much at once," Kaiba said. Yami nodded and in one swift motion picked Yugi up and carried him bridal style towards the door. Yugi let out a small noise at the sudden movement and blushed even more if that were possible.

Ryou tried to get up off the bed and follow; he got about two steps farther than Yugi had before Bakura had to catch him. Ryou's eyes widened at that and he tried to get down from the others arms but Bakura was stronger.

"We're going downstairs, right?" Yami asked Yugi. The smaller one nodded. "The living room is fine. There's room for all of us to sit down," Yugi mumbled.

Malik looked at Joey and grinned. He got up as quickly as he could and dashed for the door but Marik was right behind him and blocked his way.

"Do I get to be carried like a princess too?" Malik asked. Marik grinned and Joey almost shuddered at how similar it was to Malik's, like when he was burning something.

"Nope," was all the blond vampire said. He scooped Malik up and over his shoulder then turned and walked out the door.

The only ones left in the room were Kaiba and Joey. Joey looked up at the tall man who was suddenly beside him. Kaiba held out a hand and Joey took it. He was surprised at how warm it was. Kaiba pulled him to his feet.

"Can you walk?" he asked. Joey stood still for a minute. His stomach was a little upset but that was all, no big deal.

"Yeah," he nodded. He walked to the door, more slowly than he normally would with Kaiba right beside him.

They were the last ones to the living room where everyone else was already seated.

Joey couldn't help but laugh at how uncomfortable they all looked sitting next to one another. Well, except for Malik and Marik. They were sharing a recliner; Malik was sitting on Marik's lap.

Yugi and Ryou on the other hand looked like two deer caught in the headlights. Yugi was beside Yami on the long couch curled in a ball with his chin on his knees and arms around his legs. It was how he normally sat but there was a stiffness that was never there unless the small teen was extremely nervous. Yami looked just as stiff. He was sitting on the cushion next to Yugi not touching the cushion Yugi was one. His feet were flat on the floor, knees together, back straight, and his hands were folded in his lap. He kept his face relaxed but kept glancing at Yugi.

Poor Ryou was on the love seat next to Bakura. He had his legs crossed and his foot was tapping nervously. Bakura was tense looking also perched on the edge of the arm of the love seat.

They all looked at him when he, and surprisingly Kaiba, laughed.

"Sorry, you're just all so…" Joey said searching for the right word.

"Uptight." Kaiba said. Joey nodded still laughing slightly. Shaking his head he walked towards Ryou's kitchen.

"You guys want anything?" he called. Ryou jumped up swiftly.

"I'll get some drinks," he said. Without a word Bakura followed him. Kaiba went also just to make sure the bite wasn't having any negative effects on the blond boy.

Bakura noticed that Ryou's steps were a little wobbly and he kept close to him in case he fell again as the shorter boy bustled about the kitchen. He shooed Joey, and with him, Kaiba out saying he was the host and it was his job to take care of his guests.

"I'm not leaving," Bakura said when Ryou looked at him. They were the only ones in the kitchen.

Ryou looked down quickly saying nothing and went back to grabbing some soda and water from the fridge. Bakura had a little time to examine the boy as he hustled around. For some reason he found himself thinking he looked more like a girl than a boy. Maybe it was the long hair.

He also tried to sort through his reaction upstairs. Bakura had heard that mating was one of the most wonderful experiences, that you felt like you had found the other part of yourself once the bond was complete, he just hadn't believed it until now.

Even after the second mark he felt more protective of the boy. Right now he had the hugest urge to take Ryou in his arms and never let anything bad ever happen to him. After living for centuries alone this was a new feeling.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Ryou tried to reach for the glasses. They were too high up and he was stretching to reach them. It was a movement that Bakura found both sexy and cute.

In a second he was beside Ryou reaching up and retrieving the glasses for him.

"Thanks," Ryou mumbled lowering his eyes. Bakura thought that was cute too, how shy and quiet he was.

At that moment he decided that he'd never let Ryou out of his sight.


	5. the morning after

A/N: Wowser. I hope I can write chapter six as fast as I did this one. Okay, I looked again at the title and I have to agree with TheHotChick, the title doesn't fit. At all. It was going to in the first version I was writing but now…well, you guys know how that goes. Anyway, I need a new title. I will dedicate a chapter to whoever gives me something even if I don't use it. Hope you guys can help me out!

* * *

Ryou came back into the living room with Bakura close behind him. Bakura had insisted on carrying the tray with the glasses and drinks on it and Ryou had complied. He still felt kind of sick and a little shaky. Everyone in the living room looked a little more relaxed than when they had first entered. Yugi's had lost the tenseness in his shoulders and Yami looked less stiff though he was still sitting with perfect posture.

Kaiba and Joey had stolen the love seat. Yami realized this and moved closer to Yugi to make room on the couch for Bakura and Ryou. Bakura set the tray on the coffee table in front of the couch and plopped down on the arm. Ryou sat gingerly next to him.

"Okay, I have some questions for you guys," Joey said. They all turned to look at him. He looked at Kaiba. "How old are you?"

Kaiba seemed to think about it for a minute. "Five-thousand, three hundred and twenty-three this summer," he answered finally. All the teens' eyes widened.

"He was my high priest in Egypt," Yami explained, "Bakura and Marik were thieves and I was pharaoh." If possible, Yugi, Joey, Ryou, and Malik's eyes widened more.

"Holy shit," Malik said.

"Ditto," the other three said as one. Yami smiled.

"Nira's mother, Queen Alexa came to us and made us into vampires. She said we had a destiny to fulfill."

"Did you want to be vampires?" Ryou asked.

"We weren't really sure, but then we didn't have a lot of choice in the matter," Yami said. Yugi moved closer to him until their sides were touching.

"The first hundred years sucked," Marik said.

"Why?" Malik asked.

"Everyone we knew died," Kaiba said unemotionally. They were all quiet for a moment before Yugi asked a question.

"Do you drink blood?"

"Yes," Yami said. Yugi wrinkled his nose and Yami chuckled, "Not very often though."

"About the whole sunlight kills you thing…" Joey started. Bakura snorted.

"I've no idea who made that one up."

"It hurts our eyes though," Yami explained, "We usually wear sunglasses."

"The no reflection thing is a load of crap too," Kaiba said.

"The only thing that really kills us is getting our hearts stabbed or heads chopped off, but who wouldn't that kill?" Marik said.

"This whole, being your mates thing, I see a problem with it," Joey said.

"What would that be?" Kaiba asked.

"We're guys," he blurted out.

"Anything else?" Yami asked. Joey looked like he wanted to say something else but then thought better. The teens looked at each other and shrugged.

A clock chimed in the house, it was six am. Ryou yawned and that set everyone else off including the vampires.

"I think it's time for us all to get to bed," Yami stated. No one argued.

"Vampires sleep?" Yugi asked tiredly.

"And snore," Bakura said looking at Marik.

"Do not," Marik growled. Bakura just smirked.

It took about an hour but they finally all made sleeping arrangements. Ryou and Yugi got Ryou's bed upstairs, Malik got the love seat, and Joey the couch. The vampires insisted that the boys get the most comfortable sleeping spots and they'd take care of themselves. Marik slept on the chair and Kaiba leaned back against the couch once Joey was asleep. Yami and Bakura waited until they heard Yugi and Ryou's soft breathing before entering the room and taking positions on either side of it leaning against the walls. Yami watched the windows and Bakura the door. They slept in shifts to guard their new wards.

* * *

Yugi awoke the next morning with the sun shining in his eyes around eleven-thirty. His first thought was that last night was all a dream. This was proven wrong, however, when he saw Bakura leaning against the wall asleep. The albino vampire blinked his eyes open, looked a Yugi, and promptly fell back asleep.

Gingerly, so as not to wake the teen still sleeping next to him, Yugi got up from the bed and tip-toed across the room and downstairs. He wouldn't have admitted it, but he was looking for Yami. He had the strangest urge to stay by the vampire.

He found that in the living room only Joey and Kaiba were still sleeping. Like Bakura had done, Kaiba opened his eyes and glanced at Yugi before closing them again and falling back asleep.

Past them, Yugi could hear faint voices coming from the kitchen. He recognized Malik's at once.  
From where he stood he could smell bacon and the thought 'I hope Malik's not at the stove' crossed his mind.

As he walked into the sunny kitchen he was only looking for one person. There he was with his back to him at the stove stirring a pan full of scrambled eggs. Something inside of Yugi loosened as soon as he saw Yami who turned and smiled at him, partly because it wasn't Malik playing with fire and partly something else.

"Good morning," Yami said. Yugi smiled brightly back.

"Morning," he said back. He caught Malik rolling his eyes at him and Marik's smirk and blushed suddenly. Yami's smile widened. Yugi looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. Well, his mouth anyway.

"Retractable fangs," Yami said in answer to his unspoken question. Yugi nodded.

"How're you feeling?" Malik asked his friend. Yugi looked at him. He was seated at the kitchen table perched on Marik's lap.

"Fine," he said. He walked over towards Yami and just stood beside him. The movement just felt so right for some reason. He wanted Yami to put his arm around him. Instead he asked, "Can I help?"

Yami moved to the side and handed him a spatula to flip the bacon with while he watched the eggs. By the time they were done everyone else had woken up and congregated in the kitchen. Malik and Marik set the dining room table since the kitchen one was too small while Ryou made toast.

Soon they were all seated at the table chowing down as only teenage boys can. Breakfast/lunch was soon gone and they all pitched in to clean up. Since there was eight of them this didn't take long at all.

"So what are we doing now?" Joey asked. They were once again in the living room in the same spots as last night.

"I think I need to get out of Ryou's house and go home for a while," Malik said, "Isis is gonna kill me if I don't get back soon."

"Yeah, I need to change my clothes and shower," Yugi said looking down at himself. He was wearing the clothes he'd had on yesterday and they were wrinkled from sleep.

"What about you guys?" Ryou asked the vamps.

"We're staying with you, duh," Bakura said as if that were obvious.

"How do we explain that to our families? Hey mom, this is the vampire that bit me the other night, I'm going to be his mate and we're going to save the world from some kind of evil. That'll go over real well," Joey said dryly. Kaiba had to smile at that, it sounded like something he would say.

They decided to meet back at Ryou's house that evening around six. Once this was decided they were off all going their separate ways save for Ryou.

* * *

Ryou stood at the door and watched everyone go while Bakura watched him. The vampire couldn't help but think that the sunlight shining on Ryou's white hair made him look like an angel.

Ryou could feel Bakura's eyes on him and it made him blush. He fought as hard as he could to keep the blush down and heard the man chuckle.

"I can smell the blood rushing to your face," Bakura said. Ryou turned around closing the door. He was suddenly very uncomfortable; this was all happening so fast. Only the other day it was the start of summer vacation and he was excited to be able to spend time with his friends but now this…Two days ago seemed like a lifetime. Where did he go from here?

Ryou jumped back suddenly when he realized Bakura's face was only inches away from his own. He was bent slightly and looking up into Ryou's eyes.

"You're frowning," was all Bakura said as Ryou tried to quiet his pounding heart.

"S-sorry," he mumbled in a voice that Bakura would have been unable to hear had he not been a vampire and gifted with super human hearing.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Bakura asked straightening up. Ryou just shook his head.

"I-I need to grab a shower," he blurted and hurried upstairs to the safety of the bathroom. He locked the door behind him. It probably wouldn't be effective against the man downstairs but at the moment all he really wanted was a little space to think.

He put his clothes in a pile on the floor and adjusted the water until it was just this side of being too cold. For some reason found cold showers more relaxing than steaming ones.

As he stood under the water he couldn't help but think how improper all of this was. There was a strange man downstairs and here he was taking a shower.

That made him blush again. He had a thought of how disappointed his father would be in him if he only knew his son was gay. Ryou had always known, girls made great friends but he could never bring himself to see them as more than that. It wasn't them he looked at as adolescence set in, oh no. His first crush had been a handsome boy called Tom…

He leaned his head against the shower wall and sighed as his mind switched gears again. What the heck had happened to being a normal teenager? What were these 'powers' that Nira had told them about? He'd never thought of himself as anything but ordinary. What was this strange feeling he got whenever he looked at the white haired man downstairs?

Around and around these thoughts spun through his head. He couldn't seem to stop them so he just let them run their course.

When he stepped out of the shower approximately twenty five minutes later he realized something that made him stop suddenly.

He hadn't brought a change of clothes to the bathroom with him. He hesitated reaching for the door. His bedroom was right down the hall, just a few short feet.

So why did it seem more like a mile?

Ryou shook his head. 'Even if Bakura is out there, we're both boys,' he thought to himself. He'd used this argument on himself all his life. It felt about as true now as it had every other time.

After another minute of internal debate he secured the towel tightly around his waist and stepped into the hall…

* * *

Bakura, having lived for a very, very long time, found modesty to be both an amusing and totally useless trait. The feeling of intense embarrassment coming from just up the stairs was just too big of an invitation to resist. Grinning wickedly he used his inhuman speed to be up the stairs and right in front of the bathroom as the door opened.

Ryou let out a small gasp upon seeing him and flushed. He saw the smaller boys hand grip the towel tight. He took in the pale, pale skin still dripping, the damp hair smelling strongly (at least to him) of some shampoo that he didn't recognize, the small frame. Really, didn't this boy ever eat?

"Excuse me," Ryou said softly. Without a second thought the teen pushed past Bakura and practically ran for his room closing the door sharply behind him. Bakura grinned wider, that had been way too much fun.

* * *

Joey kept stealing nervous glances at the tall man beside him. He wondered how people didn't notice the brunette, who seemed rather…for lack a better adjective, remarkable. Just in the way he carried himself, graceful yet confident, you could tell he wasn't like anyone you'd ever met.

He saw Kaiba nod briefly to a couple wearing sunglasses like him and caught them nodding back. With a start he realized they must be vampires also. How many of them were there exactly? How many people did he walk by everyday just around town who weren't what they seemed?

Quickly, he looked back at the two figures now behind them, two women it looked like, both with long hair of brown and both wearing long, black, leather jackets.

When he turned back around Kaiba was smirking at him in amusement as if he was reading his mind.

'Probably is,' Joey mused. He wasn't sure but he thought he saw the vampires lips twitch right after he thought that. They turned down a street, now less than a block away from Joeys' house.

"So how are we going to explain if my mom or sister's there?" Joey asked.

"If anyone is home I can make them not see me," Kaiba said.

"Become invisible?" Joey asked. That would so cool!

"No, more along the lines of if they do see me their minds won't register that I'm there," Kaiba explained.

"Okay…" Joey said pretending to understand.

They walked in silence giving Joey time to think a bit.

He had to admit that Kaiba intrigued him. The night crawler, though not really a night crawler since he could go out in sunlight, seemed to be one of the two out of the group of vampires that was sane; Yami being the other one.

Thinking of Yami, he thought of Yugi. How were they hitting it off? He smiled at that. Then he pondered briefly imaging the rest of his friends. Marik and Malik, he didn't even want to know…Ryou was probably at a loss right now. He was just so shy. But still, if Joey swung that way he'd have to say Bakura wasn't bad looking. Neither was Kaiba for that matter…

But he didn't. Swing that way that is. Joey was the straight man in this group of teens. That's what he kept telling himself anyway. Looking at the vampire next to him though he could make an exception-

That thought was cut off right there. He was heterosexual and that was that. Still, the seed of doubt had been planted, or would that be the seed of desire?


	6. meet the family

This chapter is dedicated to Atemu Yugi Lover34 for giving me the push I needed to actually write this, and gave me an idea for a new (hopefully better) title. Thank you so much!

Disclaimer: I don't own them, but if I did the show would be yaoi, and possibly have guest stars from other animes.

Warning: yaoi, might be swearing…I think that's it. don't flame, flames are immediately deleted as they serve no purpose whatsoever. Constructive criticism is welcome.

* * *

Without a doubt Malik had to be the cutest thing Marik had ever seen.

The two were walking down the street hand in hand towards Malik's house. People on the avenue either stopped and stared or gave them a wide berth when they recognized Malik. (he was pretty notorious in this town) Marik hardly noticed, he was keeping an eye on his soon to be mate incase he was still feeling the effects of the second bite. Malik noticed Marik looking at him and smiled reassuringly though it would have looked more like an insane grin to those who didn't know him.

"I'm fine, you don't have to act like I'm going to fall over all the time," he said. Of course right after he said it he tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and only Marik's super human reflexes kept him from falling flat on his face.

"Okay, that wasn't fair," he laughed as Marik gave him a look. They took hands again and continued walking in silence.

"So how are you going to explain this to your family?" Marik asked after a while.

"Simple, I'm going to tell them the absolute truth and it's their own damn fault if they don't believe me," Malik answered shrugging.

Marik blinked at him then laughed.

"What?" Malik asked indignantly.

"Just you," Marik said once he'd calmed down. If that were even possible for the slightly less than sane vampire.

"We can make this go faster," Marik suggested.

"How-" Malik started but didn't even get to the next word. Marik picked him up bridal style and they were flying down the street. Or at least that's what if felt like to Malik. Marik was actually running but that word didn't seem to categorize the graceful movement. Flying fit better but wasn't as accurate since flying was usually associated with being in the air.

Malik finally decided that there was no word to describe what was going on so he stopped trying. Then another thought occurred to him.

"What if someone sees us?" Sure there'd been no on the street when they'd started but now he couldn't tell. Everything was going by in one big blur.

"No one can see us," Marik assured him.

"Oh," Malik said. He wondered briefly how fast Marik was going.

All too soon they stopped and Marik set him down gently. Actually he sort dropped him in the front yard but it was gentle for Marik.

"Hey!" Malik explained in surprise.

"What?"

"Nothing, just caught me off guard there," he said bouncing back up immediately. Not missing a beat he continued to the house. As soon as they walked in Malik yelled, "I'm home!"

There was the sound of heavy footfalls rushing towards them and Malik was swept into a great bear hug by his older brother, Rishid.

"Can't…breathe," Malik gasped.

"How was your sleepover?"

"Good. Is Isis home?"

"Malik H. Ishtar? What took you so long?!" yelled a new voice definitely a woman's. She came into view grounded young man! I told you to be home at ten!"

"Isis, Rishid, I need to talk to you." At the tone of his voice she calmed down.

"What's the matter?" Rishid asked, "Did you get arrested?"

"No!" he said quickly, "I just, oh crap this is going to be tougher than I thought. First, this is Marik, he's a vampire. I'm going to be his mate."

"Are you on drugs?" Isis said.

"No! He's really a vampire! Marik show them!" Malik said.

"What do you mean?"

"Do something vampire-ish!" Malik nearly yelled.

"Like what?" the undead man asked stupidly.

"Malik, I think you need to lie down. Rishid, go call the doctor," Isis interrupted.

"I can't handle this right now. Everybody just stop!" Malik yelled waving both his hands. Isis and Rishid froze instantly; their eyes seemed to be the only thing capable of movement as they looked at him wildly. Malik looked back with the same expression then down at his hands.

"What just happened?" he asked turning to Marik. Marik shrugged.

"Don't look at me," he grinned in amusement at the human's plight.

"How do I fix it?" Malik asked. Now he was panicking a little. Was this permanent?

"I don't think so, just tell them to unfreeze," Marik answered his unspoken thought. Malik nodded, it was worth a shot.

"Unfreeze!" he commanded. A sort of ripple went through Isis and Rishid and they could suddenly move again. Isis collapsed on the couch gasping, Rishid following after her.

"Malik, what just happened?" she asked shakily.

"I don't know…I think I'll go upstairs now," he said a little numb. Marik followed the shorter teen up the stairs to a really messy room. Without a word he shut and locked the door behind them. Malik silently thanked him since he couldn't seem to do it out loud. He sat on the edge of his bed staring blankly at the wall. Marik frowned. Malik seemed like the most mentally stable and flexible of the human boys but even he had a breaking point, obviously his family, and Marik feared he was close to it. Too much had happened in too short a period of time.

Soundlessly Marik crossed the room and sat next to Malik on the bed, pulling the boy into his lap. He felt the waves of negative energy rolling off his mate and his instinct said 'make it all better.' He pulled Malik's hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it gently pushing his own energy into Malik's to lift his mood.

"All better," he informed the boy. Malik smiled at him.

"Thanks," he whispered.

* * *

Yami was waiting in Yugi's room as the teen tried to explain over the phone to his grandfather what was going on. The old man had stayed over with a friend and wouldn't be home until that afternoon.

"No grandpa, I said vampire. Yes. I know I'm a boy! Grandpa…you've known since the seventh grade I liked guys. Yes I know. No, I'm not on drugs. No! Grandpa!" Yugi glanced at Yami blushing. "Look, once you get home I'll prove what I'm telling you is true, okay? Yes, I'll be at Ryou's so just call and I'll come home. Okay? Alright, fine. I love you too. Hanging up now!" Yugi said blushing again. He clicked the phone off. The room was audibly silent for a long moment.

"So…" Yami said, "your grandfather knew you're gay?"

Yugi nodded absently. "And he's okay with that? I remember the era he grew up in and I'm surprised he's so…tolerant," Yami said grimacing.

"He likes guys too," Yugi said.

"That must have been hard on him."

"Yeah, that's why he's so supportive of me. He didn't want me to go through what he did."

"Ah. What are we doing now?" Yami said. He could sense that Yugi didn't want to talk any more about it so changed the subject.

"Back to Ryou's, after I take a shower," he said.

"Why? You smell fine."

Yugi lifted the back of his hand to his nose and made a face. "I smell like sweat," he said. Before he could even blink Yami had crossed the room and stood in front of him his face just inches from Yugi's own.

"Geez, do you ever move at a normal speed?" Yugi asked trying to calm his pulse. Yami grinned at that.

"I like the way you smell," he informed the shorter boy. Yugi flushed under his gaze and stumbled back from the vampire.

"I'm still taking a shower," he retorted. He walked purposefully over to his dresser and pulled out a change of clothes then hurried down the hall to the bathroom.

The hot water did little to sooth him, his thoughts were just too jumbled. Just thinking of his grandfather sent his stomach into knots, what would he think? Yugi hadn't told him everything, he wanted to do that in person. How was he going to explain in a way that would make his guardian believe him but not worry? He went through half a dozen different conversations in his mind as he lathered his hair with shampoo, nothing ended well.

The only way to help would be to make his grandpa believe he wasn't worried. That seemed near impossible. Firstly, while Yami was attractive and they seemed to share a strange bond since the bite, he'd only known the vampire for, what, a night? And a morning? So a day at best. And what about the bite? Was he entirely comfortable with being bitten by a vampire twice with the only reason being to unlock some secret powers he supposedly had and save a race he hadn't even known existed up till now from some great evil?

Yugi rinsed his hair slowly, taking deep even breaths to calm himself down. He had reason to be worried surely, but worrying didn't solve any problems. He needed time to digest this, think it over.

Yugi finished in his shower and pulled the curtain aside to step out. Yami was standing just inside the door watching him. Yugi gasped blushing and pulled the shower curtain back to cover himself so only his face was showing. He glared at the vampire who was smiling.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Yugi demanded. He didn't dwell on the fact that just seeing Yami calmed his nerves, made him feel safer.

"Guarding you," the ex-pharaoh answered nonchalantly.

"Well I need to get dressed so guard me from outside the door!"

"Sorry but no, I like it better when you're within sight," he said. Yugi calculated the odds of A talking Yami into leaving the bathroom while he got dressed or B forcing him out physically. They were not good.

"Fine, but turn around at least," he sighed. Still smiling like a cat that got the canary Yami turned to face the wall. Yugi made a dash to the sink where he'd set his clothes and slipped on his pants as fast as he could.

"You can turn around now," he informed Yami as he slipped on his shirt. He fought down another blush as Yami looked him up and down appreciatively. The ex-pharaoh approached him, deliberately slowly for the smaller one's benefit, and got just as close as he had earlier. He inhaled the scent of Yugi's hair deeply, closing his eyes contently. Yugi would have moved away but he was right up against the sink, and as much as he probably should have been protesting the position he was in, he found himself oddly…content. Yami moved back after a moment shaking his head.

"You smelled better before," he said. Yugi glared cutely. He didn't think his shampoo smelled that bad.

"It doesn't," Yami assured him, "I just like your smell better." Yugi tried to figure out if he'd said something out loud, much to Yami's amusement. He gave up after a moment and walked past the vampire and out the door muttering something along the lines of 'Stupid mind reading vampires.' Yami couldn't help but laugh.


	7. saying goodbye

A/N: Oh dear...thanks to _dragonqueen_ and **SesshomaruXInuYashaRules101 **for me actually getting this chapter out. All my reviewers rule! I love you guys.

Warning: stuff that offends people.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. But soon...lol

* * *

"Whaddaya mean my room sucks?"

Kaiba smirked at the outraged tone of Joey's voice. He turned to face the livid teen in amusement. This was the most fun he'd had in years. Getting a rise out of this boy was too easy.

"Actually, I said it bites," he said flashing his teeth. The blonde glared.

"And where do you sleep, in a cave?" he asked scathingly. Kaiba rolled his eyes at him.

"Is that the best you can do?"

"…pretty much, yeah."

Kaiba ignored him and continued his observation of his mate-to-be's bed room, though he had yet to find the bed. Was that it beneath the mound of dirty clothes? He fought the urge to cover his sensitive nose at the horrendous smell.

Despite the mess he had to admit it was interesting to see the way his mate lived. A gaming system sat in the corner of the room, surprisingly untouched by the mess. The bed (he'd finally located it) had a stack of clothes on it, all folded and clean. Without a second thought Joey tossed the pile to the floor with the rest of the clutter. Seto sighed.

Not even blinking Joey reached into a mass of random fabric and pulled forth a blue backpack. He dumped out the contents (two books and an apple core) and began to shove clothes into it.

It disgusted Seto that he found all of this endearing. Of all the vampires he was the tidiest, so why the hell did the gods deem this kid his mate for all eternity? Some sick cosmic joke he was sure.

"Joey?" said a feminine voice from outside his door, his sister, Seto recognized. Joey glanced at him wondering if she could come in. Seto nodded.

"Whatcha need, Sis?" Joey asked. Taking this as an invitation Serenity Wheeler stepped into the room, picking her way carefully around the mess. She sat on his bed, first clearing a place for herself, and looked hard at Joey. Then unexpectedly her gaze moved to Seto.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?" she asked. Seto had to hold back a laugh at the look on Joey's face.

"How did you-? When did-HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"

"Hello, my name is Seto Kaiba, your brother's soon to be mate," Kaiba introduced himself.

"M-mate?" Serenity stuttered. She took a deep breath seeming to compose herself. "There's something…odd about you. If you don't mind, what are you?"

"Vampire," he answered. Joey finally decided to stop stammering and form a coherent sentence. Amazing considering the state his mind was in. Confused did not begin to cover it. Chaos would be better.

"How did you know he was here?" Joey asked. Serenity's eyes slid down and it clicked for Seto.

"You're a physic."

"A what?" Joey asked.

Serenity just nodded. "Are you going to tell mom?" she asked.

"Tell mom what?"

"That you're leaving."

"Uh…"

"Damnit Joey, you can't just up and leave. It'll break her heart!"

"What am I supposed to do? 'Gee mom, I just met this vampire the other day and he bit me so I'm going to be his mate. Bye!' Like I'll even get out the door before she calls the police!"

"I know…" Serenity said. Joey kneeled down in front of her, taking her hand in his.

"I _have_ to go Serenity."

"I know that too."

"What else do you know?" Seto asked sensing there was more to her words. She looked at him but her eyes weren't seeing him.

"There's something coming, a darkness. It wants to swallow everything. And you guys are the only hope of fighting it." Her eyes focused again, this time on Joey and she smiled with tears in her eyes. "I've always known there was something special about you Jo, that your destiny was far beyond here."

"Serenity…"

She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's just hard to say good-bye." Joey moved up to hug her.

"I'll come back, I promise."

* * *

To say Yugi was nervous would have been the understatement of the year, nay the century. Yami saw his entire body trembling as Ryou held the phone out to him. 

"It's your grandfather, do you want us to go with you?" the white haired teen asked concerned.

"That'd be awesome," Yugi gushed before answering, "Hello? Yes I'm fine. Yeah, I'll be right over. Okay? Yeah. See you in a minute." He clicked the phone off and handed it back to Ryou to hang up.

"Ready?" Ryou asked a moment later. Yugi took a shaky breath and nodded. Yami followed his mate-to-be and his best friend out the door, Bakura at his side.

They walked right into Yugi's house when they arrived. "Grandpa?" Yugi called out. An older man with the same shade of purple eyes walked out of the kitchen. He was Yugi's height only stockier, with silver hair covered by a headband. He smiled at his grandson then looked at Yami.

"You'd be the, uh-"

"Vampire?" Yami provided. The old man put a hand on the back of his head.

"I feel so ridiculous," he admitted. Beside him, Bakura smiled.

"Join the club," the albino vampire said.

"I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself yet, I'm Solomon Motou, but you can just call me grandpa."

"The Solomon Motou? The man who found my tomb?" Yami asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Solomon said, "Your tomb? But that would make you over five-thousand years old! Although…" the old man studied him closely, "you do look a great deal like the pharaoh in the hieroglyphics."

"You found Yami's tomb?" Bakura asked.

"I found the tomb of a pharaoh whose name is not known. And I wasn't the first one to find it, it had already been plundered by thieves."

"Yeah, about that…" Bakura said.

"What all did you take?" Yami asked curiously, "You retrieved my puzzle and dagger for me."

"Yeah, well, I might have picked up a few things out of pure instinct, you know bad habits die hard?"

"Clepto," Yami muttered.

"I'm sorry, Yugi. I just don't believe these boys are vampires," Mr. Motou said.

"Boys?" Bakura questioned.

"What exactly would it take for you to know we're telling the truth?" Yami asked ignoring his irate friend.

"You can believe whatever you want, Grandpa, but I still have to go with them."

Solomon looked stricken at the serious tone in his grandson's voice. Yami watched his mate in curiosity. He could feel the waves of anxiety rolling off him, and he was shaking still, but his eyes were steady.

"Yugi…" Solomon said.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa, but this is my future, my decision."

Mr. Motou was silent for a long time before he finally nodded. "You're right." Yami was sure he looked as surprised as Yugi at that moment.

"W-what?" his mate stammered. Mr. Motou laughed.

"Didn't expect me to agree so quickly did you? But you're absolutely right. In my day about your age I was considered an adult. Are you sure this is what you want?"

Yugi turned to look at Yami, if his heart beat he was sure it would have sped up. Shyly, the shorter boy took him by the hand and squeezed tightly, then looked back at his grandfather.

"I'm not sure what exactly being a vampire's mate is like, but I'm positive I couldn't live without him." If Yami's heart beat it would have sped up at those words. Squeezing Yugi's hand back he gave the teen a radiant smile.


End file.
